When using stringed musical instruments, such as guitars, bass guitars, mandolins, banjos, etc., different tonal effects are desired for different styles of music and different techniques of play. For example, it is known to use a “hammering” technique where a player produces tones by fingering various notes on a fingerboard (e.g., a fret board) without strumming or plucking the strings with the other hand at or near a body of the instrument. When playing in such a manner, however, especially with electrically amplified musical instruments, extraneous or “sympathetic” vibrations of other “open” strings can occur, resulting in unwanted noise or frequencies being produced. In order to mitigate or prevent these sympathetic vibrations, various devices are known in the art to dampen such extraneous noise.
In particular, string dampeners are known for limiting the string vibrations initiated by a musician's hands. Essentially, the purpose of string dampeners is to purify all musical notes by eliminating unwanted or extraneous sounds which can occur because of sympathetic vibrations. It is noted here that string dampeners are different from other devices known in the art such as string mutes, which are typically attached at an instrument's body, such as near a bridge device for a guitar, bass or banjo, as examples. The purpose of the mute is not for eliminating unwanted sounds, but rather to change the timbre of the sound, such as to produce a staccato sound or a muted note.
Because even with clean, direct fingering by the musician, sympathetic vibrations in the strings not touched occurs near the neck of a stringed instrument, string dampeners are typically placed near the nut of a guitar, for example, to prevent vibrations in the untouched strings. One known apparatus is simply a strip of felt or other dampening material that is permanently attached to the fingerboard, lying under the strings at the 1st fret. This apparatus, however, is not easily removable and requires both of the musician's hands to remove or adjust the apparatus.
For stringed instruments such as guitars, bass guitars, mandolins, etc., another string dampener is also known that is a mechanical attachment with a base that is screwed or glued to the headstock of the guitar or other stringed instrument and a post attached to the base. An arm is pivotally attached to the post and includes a piece of dampening material that is placed against the string to achieve limited damping of the string by rotating the arm with respect to the base. Such a device, however, requires adhesive or some other means such as screws to secure the device to the instrument, and thus leaves an ugly scar or adhesive mark when the device is removed. Additionally, such a device is not quickly removable as the device is essentially a permanent fixture. Thus, removal of such a device is time consuming, laborious and requires either the use of tools or solvents.